Last week Christ and Pop Culture ran a series of posts celebrating the life and works of C.S. Lewis. Here’s the Editor’s Note:

November 22, 2013, will mark the fiftieth anniversary of C. S. Lewis’s death. On that day, he will be given a place in Westminster Abbey’s renowned Poet’s Corner. In commemoration of this event, all this week Christ and Pop Culture contributors will be writing about the works by C. S. Lewis that have been most personally significant to them.

I wrote a post on The Problem of Pain:

Of course, the most important thing about the work is that he’s trying to show the philosophical coherence of explicitly biblical thought. Yes there’s a bit of speculation, and no I wouldn’t agree with all of it now, but the reason the work has staying power is because, at core, it’s an attempt to set forth the Bible’s own “answers” to the problem of pain and suffering. This is what philosophy—essentially just thinking really hard—in service of the Gospel looks like: untangling the mess of half-truths, lies, and confusions of thought that get in the way of trusting in the goodness of God declared to us in Jesus Christ.

And the rest of the posts by my brilliant colleagues are all worth diving into as well (probably more so):

The Weight of Glory by Anita Kobayashi Sung:  “Our desires indicate the deep ways we long to be acknowledged and known by God.”

Letters to Malcom by Nick Rynerson: “Prayer can bring tension and yet intimacy. C. S. Lewis helped remind me of its beauty.”

The Four Loves by Jewel Evans: “It is grace in and of itself that enables any of us to be loved at all.”

A Grief Observed by Martyn Jones: “Sometimes all we know of God is his absence, and other times he appears as a scourge.

Perelandra by E. Stephen Burnett: The second “Ransom Trilogy” story captivated me with themes of a virginal paradise invaded by serious, haunting evil.

That Hideous Strength by S.L. Whitesell: “It is a story of permanent struggle between the sacred and profane, between the earth and stone of Britain and the magic and spirit of Logres.”

The Shoddy Lands by Seth T. Hahne: “The lesson is that we should be mindful of the things, people, and ideas in which we invest ourselves.”

Til We Have Face by Erin Straza: “It exposes how we see ourselves and project our notions upon God—often quite erroneously and to our own demise.”

The Screwtape Letters by Erin Wyble Newcomb: “The book opened my eyes to a spiritual plane that I had heretofore neglected—to my detriment.”

Surprised by Joy by S.L. Whitesell: “Surprised by Joy supplied the defect of my Christian upbringing and didactic theology”

The Silver Chair by Geoffrey Reiter (who edited the whole series): “It represents an approach to catechesis, teaching children precepts through memorization—not for the sake of rote knowledge, however, but so that the guidelines sink so deeply into children’s hearts that such commands become, in effect, a part of them.”

Soli Deo Gloria